Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

The Financial Action Task Force is the global money-laundering watchdog created in 1989. Its aim is to fight money laundering and terrorism financing worldwide and promote the implementation of AML/CFT policies by governments.

The FATF has started to put virtual assets under its scope as criminals can use them for money laundering and terrorism financing purposes. In 2019, it released amendments to its recommendations describing frameworks to tackle money laundering and terrorism financing for virtual assets.

Since then, the intergovernmental body conducted a review on the implementation of these standards. It assesses the level of compliance from jurisdictions. In 2019, the FATF also released a guide on adopting a risk-based approach for virtual assets and virtual asset service providers (VASPs).

The FATF finalized its updated version of its guidance on a risk-based in October 2021.